They were the largest animals to fly. Pterodactyls thrived from around 230 million to 66 million years ago but left behind few fossils. Every new bone can reveal more about the lives of these predatory reptiles.

In fact, they are changing the way pterosaurs looked, existed, and ultimately died out. Even so, their complete story remains mysterious and contentious. More than any other creature, pterodactyls can make researchers go a little crazy.

10 Flightless Young

Scientists debate whether pterodactyls could fly directly after hatching. In 2017, a cache of eggs proved that there was no such independence. Around 16 eggs were perfectly preserved, allowing scans to reveal complete skeletons in 3-D. The thighbones were strong, but those supporting the pectoral flight muscles were underdeveloped.

This meant that hatchlings could probably walk but not soar into the sky. None of the youngsters had teeth, either. Both the flightless vulnerability and the lack of teeth would have made life dangerous for baby pterodactyls.

Another find suggested parental protection. Close to where the 120-million-year-old clutch was found in China, adults of the same species turned up. They were male and female H. tianshanensis.^[1]

The number of eggs in the area, over 200, pointed at colony breeding behavior. The soft shells of the eggs also indicated that, much like modern reptiles, pterodactyls buried their eggs to prevent the embryos from drying out.

9 Mysterious Plane-Sized Species

In 2017, paleontologists stuck their spades into the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. They focused on a rich fossil mine. Since the bone patch never produced a pterosaur, it came as a surprise when huge neck bones turned up.

They were cervical vertebrae of such immense size that the creature was estimated to match a small plane. The species has not been identified. But it lived around 70 million years ago and was probably one of the biggest pterodactyl species ever to exist. Calculations suggested that the animal terrorized the sky with an 11-meter (36 ft) wingspan.

Confirmation will have to wait, however, as the rest of the body remains missing. It is also possible that the species was average or small but developed jumbo necks for some reason. At least, the discovery proved that the flying predators were more widely distributed that previously thought—it was the first of its kind to be discovered in Asia.^[2]

8 The Quail Study

In 2018, researchers claimed that paleontologists were wrong about pterodactyls—specifically, about how the animals’ hip joints were portrayed in flight. They drew on a 19th-century depiction of a pterosaur posing like a bat. Claiming this was impossible, they went on to say that close to 95 percent of pterosaur and dinosaur reconstructions were wrong.

This conclusion came after the common quail showed similar thighbones to those of pterosaurs. A dead quail’s skeleton splays like a bat’s, but living muscles and ligaments prevented the pose.

The study was not welcomed. Birds descend from a certain dinosaur lineage, but pterosaurs were not dinosaurs. According to the strange study, pterodactyls had similar femurs to quails. But other scientists pointed out that the bone structure surrounding the hip joint had nothing in common with birds.

Several facts were also ignored, including new research on the reptiles’ pelvic muscles and tracks showing how they walked. Additionally, scholars had dismissed the 19th-century sketch as incorrect years ago. A lot about pterodactyls remains unknown, but this baffling attempt with quails and long-acknowledged mistakes certainly does not help.^[3]

7 They Breathed Strangely

Pterodactyls did not breathe like people. They possessed an unusually rigid chest, which could not expand to inhale or squeeze out old air. Extra air sacs existed in their bones, just like birds, but the two could not have breathed the same way. Birds rely on the up-and-down movement of their sterna to regulate breathing. Once again, pterodactyls were just too stiff.

In recent years, living reptiles—crocodiles and alligators—gave the best answer. They breathe via something named the hepatic piston. This odd technique involves the liver, which separates their guts and lungs. The liver contracts and shoves the guts down, making space for the lungs to inhale. Belly ribs return the liver to its original position, and the croc exhales.^[4]

Pterodactyls could have used a similar method. Sure, their chests were ridiculously tight. Some species had fused vertebrae and ribs, along with dense networks of mineralized tendons. However, there was a method to this madness. It strengthened their skeletons and lowered muscle mass. This allowed pterosaurs to become the largest animals that ever flew.

6 When Pterosaurs Are Turtles

In 2014, paleontologists Gerald Grellet-Tinner and Vlad Codrea identified a 70-million-year-old new species called Thalassodromeus sebesensis. Oddly, this genus already existed—pterosaurs that soared above Cretaceous Brazil around 42 million years earlier. If this was the same animal, then a massive chunk of its history was missing from the fossil record.

Grellet-Tinner and Codrea attempted to patch the hole with migration, evolving alongside flowering plants and how islands could have altered the species. Despite this elaborate backstory, the Romanian fossil stayed out of place.

During publication, the single piece was called a “snout.” When other paleontologists reviewed the study, they knew why the new species could not fit. It was a turtle. The plate matched the belly shell from a Kallokibotion—a turtle from the Cretaceous.^[5]

Despite Kallokibotion‘s presence in Romania being known for almost a century and the fact that nobody agreed with them, the authors persisted with the conviction of a pterodactyl. Worse, this misidentification could muddy research with a creature that never existed.

5 Pterodactyls From Hateg Basin

Hateg Basin was an island where animals existed in dwarf form. During the dinosaur era, several species roamed Hateg as diminutive versions of their larger counterparts on the mainland.

Oddly, the island produced giant pterodactyls. It would appear that a lack of big predators, like tyrannosaurs, gave the flying reptiles the chance to become the fright factor on the island.

The tallest was Hatzegopteryx, which could have looked a giraffe in the eye. Its wingspan measured 11 meters (36 ft), but the lengthiest wings on the island went to another pterodactyl, cutely nicknamed “Dracula,” with a span of 12 meters (39 ft).

In 2018, researchers identified the biggest pterosaur jawbone in history and it came from Hateg. The 66-million-year-old fossil was found decades ago but was only recently recognized for what it was.

In life, the unnamed species sported a jaw that was 94–110 centimeters (37–43 in) long. However, this does not mean that it was the largest pterosaur. Researchers believe that it had a smaller wingspan—around 8 meters (26 ft)—than the giraffe guy and Dracula.

4 The Most Complete Skeleton

Pterodactyl fossils are exceptionally scarce. From the Triassic Period (220 million years ago), only 30 individuals have been found, often in the form of single fragments. Recently, researchers removed a living-room-sized block from a quarry in Utah that is known for tightly packed Triassic fossils.

Back at the laboratory, the team chiseled out a few ancient crocodiles and then made a smashing find. Among the block’s 18,000 bones sat a pterosaur. At least, it was the most complete one ever found with a partial face, intact skull roof and lower jaw, and a portion of a wing.

Scans soon identified a new species, Caelestiventus hanseni. This juvenile grinned with 112 teeth and had a bony jaw appendage, probably to support a pelican-like throat pouch. The brain suggested sharp sight but a poor sense of smell.^[7]

The best information concerned the Triassic-Jurassic extinction. The rare fossil appeared to be related to another species from the later Jurassic, which means that C. hanseni‘s lineage conquered a terrible event that wiped out innumerable species.

3 Cretaceous Surprise

By the end of the Cretaceous, their last era, all pterodactyls were supersized. Scholars felt the competition was so stiff that the flying reptiles had to be huge to survive. The ecological niche that once supported small pterosaurs was taken over by birds.

In 2008, a fossil hunter found a rock on Canada’s Hornby Island. About as big as a softball, the chunk contained visible vertebrae. After initially examining the rock, the fossil hunter concluded that it was a “flying something.” When researchers got their hands on the specimen, it challenged the Cretaceous pterosaur story. The vertebrae, aged 70–85 million years, had a special design linked to flight, something not present in Cretaceous birds.^[8]

The remains suggested an adult pterodactyl no bigger than a cat. Since the bones were few, researchers hesitated to name a new species or mash its existence into the evolution story of pterosaurs. However, this is a fantastic find. This pint-sized predator, which could still turn out to be a known species, existed when everyone said they should not.

2 They Were Fluffy

We can now burn the books depicting pterosaurs as leather-naked creatures. It is official—they were covered in feathers. Not just a tuft here and there, either. When scientists examined two pristine fossils in 2015, they identified four types of feathers. Found in China, the reptiles sported down, single filaments that resembled hair, filament clumps, and filaments with fluff in the middle.

Although it remains unclear if the pair belonged to the same species, both dated to approximately 165–160 million old and came from the same fossil bed. Additionally, the creatures had preserved soft tissues. Surviving pigment suggested that the feathers were rust-colored, which could have been significant in camouflage or communication.

Like modern birds, pterodactyl feathers could also have insulated the body or been used for streamlining flight or tactile sensing. They may share the four types with certain dinosaurs, but the pterodactyls boasted special honors. The discovery of the fluffy pair pushed the origins of feathers back 70 million years.^[9]

1 Killed In Their Prime

A long-standing belief claimed that pterodactyls slowly became extinct by themselves. Supposedly, by the time the dinosaurs became extinct 66 million years ago, pterodactyls were few. However, a 2018 study crushed this theory.

The story begins with pterodactyl-obsessed student Nick Longrich, who later went on to professionally study fossils. While excavating in Morocco, he found a tiny bone. Having studied the book on pterosaurs to the point of religion, Longrich recognized that the bone belonged to the nyctosaurs, a group of smaller pterodactyl species.

This initiated a slew of discoveries, including seven species from three different families. The best were pteranodontid bones, a group thought to have gone extinct 15 million years before. The fossils belonged to the late Cretaceous when an asteroid is believed to have killed the dinosaurs.

Their diversity showed that the studies were wrong. They did not fade away on their own. When the asteroid arrived, pterosaurs were varied and going strong. After soaring through the skies for 150 million years, it was the space rock they could not beat.^[10]

In the past, bizarre and quirky animal sideshows were part of everyday life. You could expect to witness dead whales showcased in car parks, have your mind read by learned pigs (supposedly!), and participate in octopus wrestling. Today, we have fun attractions like the Moscow Cat Theater or bee bearding. But can anything today top the weird and fascinating attractions of bygone days?

10 Lion Drome

In the 1930s, motordromes turned into extremely interesting (and often dangerous) places. Some motorbike stunt riders trained their pet lions to sit in specially built sidecars and then raced madly with the animals by their side. This racing was done at 130 kilometers per hour (80 mph) around the almost perpendicular wall of the motordrome track known as the “Wall of Death!”

Believe it or not, sometimes this mad activity was not exciting enough for the participants and spectators. In those cases, an additional element of thrill, known as the “Race For Life,” was introduced. Trained lions were deliberately released and would charge after the zooming motorcycles trying to swat them with their huge paws.

The last lion drome closed in 1964 when a drunken carnival worker placed his hand inside a lion cage and had it bitten off by a male lion named King.

9 Learned Pigs

In the 18th and 19th centuries, “learned pigs” were a popular type of entertainment and attracted huge numbers of curious spectators in both England and the US.

The owners taught their “learned pigs” a number of impressive tricks, such as spelling and counting with cards, telling the time of day, distinguishing the sexes, and supposedly even reading the thoughts of members of the audience. Through fees and wagers, the owners made quite an income. But it was well deserved since training a pig could take up to two years.

Many published works concerning the training of pigs have exposed the tricks used by the pig trainers. For example, the pig was encouraged to move in a specific direction by stick-prodding and was taught to retrieve cards that were scented with food.

8 Flea Circus

The “flea circus,” otherwise known as the “smallest circus in the world,” was a popular Victorian sideshow attraction. The fleas were dressed in miniature costumes and could be seen performing various circus stunts such as tightrope walking, racing, juggling, and pulling miniature carts.

Flea circuses took place in a ring that was the size of a dinner plate. It was surrounded by small boxes that served as the houses of the performers and the stables for their carriages. The audience consisted of one person with a magnifying glass and the proprietor who stood nearby, armed with a pair of pincers in case any of his fleas misbehaved.

It was thought that circus fleas were of remarkable intelligence, but training them was no easy feat. However, recent reports suggest that these fleas were most likely “mole fleas,” a less energetic variety of the insect. Mole fleas were harnessed with a thin piece of gold wire and stimulated into movement with a heat lamp.

7 Geek Show

In the early 20th century, “geeks” were circus “freaks” whose specialty was biting off the heads of animals (usually those of chickens or snakes) and drinking their blood. Geek shows often inspired the fear that normal people in the audience could also become freaks because geeks were ordinary people otherwise. Geeks were mostly men, although the few women geeks were especially prized because it was uncommon for women to be part of such a violent act.

Geeks frequently suffered from broken teeth and jaws, and the constant interaction with animals in close proximity meant that geeks often suffered from animal-related sicknesses. Geeks were also paid the lowest wages because they could be replaced easily.

6 Bear Wrestling

In the early 1900s, bear wrestling was a popular sport that attracted large crowds of people, particularly throughout the southern United States. Often, the bear wrestled with a specific wrestler, usually his owner and trainer. Together, they perfected a choreographed match that they took on the road for everyone to see.

Other times, the bear was trained to wrestle with a different person who would play the coward and lose the match to the bear. Still other times, audience members were invited to wrestle the magnificent beast. If the audience member succeeded, he received a cash prize. Of course, most wrestling bears were declawed and detoothed.

5 Diving Horse

A “diving horse,” a popular attraction in the mid-1880s, consisted of a horse diving into a pool of water, sometimes from as high as 20 meters (60 ft). William “Doc” Carver came up with this idea when he crossed a bridge which partially collapsed and his horse fell into the water below.

Following World War II, the popularity of the diving horse act declined due to criticism from animal welfare activists. Sometimes, the horses were forced to dive four times a day, seven times a week. The owners of the shows were also accused of using electrical jolts and trapdoors to force the unwilling horses to dive.

4 Octopus Wrestling

Octopus wrestling was a curious sport that was popular in the Puget Sound in Washington in the 1950s and 1960s. The World Octopus Wrestling Championship took place there in 1963 with 111 divers taking part in the match.

The sport involved divers wrangling octopuses to the surface of the water and receiving points on the final weight of the octopuses wrestled and the amount of equipment used (snorkels versus breathing tanks). Octopus wrestling was not really “wrestling,” however. Divers simply stuck their hands into the ocean caverns and groped for the heads of the octopuses.

Then the diver would pull on the octopus until the suction created by its tentacles was released, allowing the diver to bring the octopus to the surface. Giant Pacific octopuses are timid creatures, so most cases of provocation ended with the octopus giving in or fleeing.

3 Ferret-Legging

“Ferret-legging” was a game that consisted of participants shoving live ferrets down their pants. The pants had to be tied at the ankle so that the ferret could not escape. They also had to be spacious enough to allow the ferret to move about freely, and no underwear was allowed. The ferret had to have all of its teeth and claws intact, and neither the ferret nor the participant could be drugged. The winner of the game was the person who could stand the pain from the ferret’s teeth and claws the longest.

In the past, hunters sent muzzled ferrets into the burrows of rabbits and moles to scare them out. However, ferreting became illegal during the Middle Ages, and hunters began hiding ferrets in their pants to get past game wardens. Eventually, ferret-legging became a sport practiced widely in the United Kingdom, especially among Yorkshire miners in the 1970s.

2 Dead Whales

Throughout the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s, tours showcasing dead whales were a popular attraction that lured thousands of people in the United Kingdom and the United States. The three main preserved whales in the UK were named Goliath, Jonah, and Hercules and were displayed in car parks and large grassy areas such as racecourses.

For an entrance fee, the curious spectators could view the whale and various instruments of death such as the harpoon and other whaling tools. The whales were originally caught off the coast of Norway and driven around Europe to promote the whaling industry after World War II. They were eventually sold to showmen who realized their financial potential. The whales were then preserved and scooped out, and their insides were decorated with lanterns.

1 Goat Throwing

On the fourth Sunday in January, goat throwing used to take place in the Spanish village of Manganeses de la Polvorosa in honor of Saint Vincent, the town’s patron saint. The tradition was to carry a live goat to the top of a 15-meter (50 ft) church tower and throw it to the crowd below, who would then catch the goat with a canvas sheet.

According to local legend, a priest once had a special goat that could feed all the poor in the village with its milk. One day, the goat accidentally climbed atop the church tower and was so frightened by the church bells ringing for Sunday mass that it fell onto the street below.

Amazingly, the goat was caught in a blanket and survived. Thus, the tradition of goat throwing was meant to represent the miraculous survival. Nowadays, the tradition is no longer practiced due to complaints from animal rights activists. As one can imagine, the villagers complained extensively. Supposedly, the mayor of the town also said that having a fiesta without goat throwing is like having Christmas without a Christmas tree.

Laura is a student from Ireland in love with books, writing, coffee, and cats.

Mankind’s love of records left behind countless documents. Needless to say, some are so common that the very sight of them makes people regret going to the museum.

Then there are the secret codes and oaths, unique manuscripts, and caves marked with people’s fear. Text-obsessed scholars are talking in dead tongues and admit once again that the ancient Egyptians did some amazing things.

The world of rare words and pictures is a magnetic one. Sometimes, it’s even downright funny.

10 Oldest Near-Death Case

In 1740, a French doctor called Pierre-Jean du Monchaux described a curious case. An unconscious patient had recovered, only to describe a light so pure and white that the man was convinced he had stood with one shoe in Heaven. The case was included in the doctor’s book, Anecdotes de Medecine.

It might have gone unnoticed if not for Phillippe Charlier, who recently riffled through an antique shop. Ironically, he was also a French doctor. He found the book by chance and bought it for less than $1.

When he read about the case, Charlier realized he was looking at the world’s oldest report of a near-death experience. It was a time when people leaned on religion to explain such things, but the ancient physician stayed professional. He suggested a medical reason—too much blood rushing to the brain.

Monchaux’s assessment nearly matched modern explanations. Today, researchers think a lack of blood flow and oxygen to the brain cause the sensations of a near-death experience.^[1]

9 The Mysterious Devourer

In 2017, archaeologists took their shovels to a shrine-like building. The small structure stood at Zincirli in Turkey and soon yielded a pot. The stone vessel originally held cosmetics but was reused to display an incantation.

A story was carved over the surface, describing the capture of something called a “devourer” which was said to bring “fire” to its victims. The only way a person could recover was to use the devourer’s own blood.

The incantation did not specify how the blood was to be administered or the creature’s identity. Illustrations suggested that it was either a centipede or a scorpion. The “fire” sounds like a painful sting.

The author was a magician called Rahim, who carved the advice in Aramaic 2,800 years ago. This made it the oldest Aramaic incantation ever found. Archaeologists believe that the incantation was important enough to preserve after the magician’s lifetime because the inscription was already over a century old by the time the temple was built.^[2]

8 Dirty Bathroom Jokes

Ancient bathrooms with floor mosaics are rare. When one was found in 2018 in Turkey’s ancient city of Antiochia ad Cragum, it was a cause for celebration. However, the images were not beautifully rendered legends or geometric patterns. The tiny tiles told dirty jokes.

As Roman men visited the latrine around 1,800 years ago, they would have been amused by the antics of Narcissus and Ganymede. Both men belonged to real myths. Narcissus was in love with his own image. Ganymede was kidnapped by the god Zeus as a slave but also as a love interest.

The mosaics twisted the stories, first by giving Narcissus an ugly nose. Instead of admiring his reflection, he appeared to be fixated on his genitals. Ganymede’s scene was even more detailed. He was getting his private parts sponged clean by a heron. The type of sponge was usually reserved for cleaning toilets, and the bird represented Zeus.^[3]

The unusual theme stunned archaeologists but at least proved that bathroom humor is nothing new.

7 The Creswell Marks

The border of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire is marked by a limestone gorge. Called Creswell Crags, the site is historically significant. Apart from past discoveries of ancient remains, Creswell holds the only Ice Age art in Britain.

After years of investigations, the caves managed to deliver a big surprise in 2019. A tour group stumbled upon the country’s largest collection of apotropaic marks. The engravings had nothing do to with the Ice Age gallery. The latter were thousands of years older, while the newfound carvings were from medieval times until the 19th century.

Historians recognized several of the symbols. Also called witches’ marks, their purpose was to protect the living from bad supernatural influences. Among the most popular was “VV,” invoking the Virgin Mary. Others—like boxes, mazes, and diagonal stripes—captured whatever mysterious evil brought diseases and made the crops fail.^[4]

Dense clusters of symbols lined the ceilings and walls of the caves, a testament to the local people’s fear of the unknown.

6 The Nag Hammadi Library

Around 1,400 years ago, a jar was buried in Egypt. Containing 13 codices, the vessel was rediscovered in 1945 near the town of Nag Hammadi. The rolls contained Gnostic records of Jesus. The Gnostic tradition, an early and sometimes mystical branch of Christianity, is considered to be heretical by mainstream Christians. Most were traditionally penned in Coptic, a language that was spoken in Egypt for centuries.^[5]

In 2017, researchers in Texas found that one codex was different. Instead of Coptic scribbles, the text was Greek. This was exceptional. The work in question, the First Apocalypse of James, had never been recovered in ancient Greek before. The piece covered a conversation between Jesus and James, the latter taking instructions on how to continue teaching after Jesus’s death.

Another feature that set the scroll apart was little dots that divided the text into syllables. This rare technique is known from educational texts, which suggested the writer used the heretical gospel to teach Greek to students.

5 Unique Palimpsest

Centuries ago, writing material was expensive. Sometimes, an old manuscript would be scraped clean and inked with new information. These recycled documents are known as palimpsests.

In 2018, Dr. Eleonore Cellard assessed fragments containing Quran script. She noticed ghostly letters behind the eighth-century Arabic text and identified several Bible passages. Written in Coptic, they belonged to the Old Testament’s Book of Deuteronomy.

The find was extraordinary. Quran palimpsests are rare enough, but never before had a Christian document been erased to make space for the Islamic holy book. The writing style dated the Arabic text, but the Coptic was more difficult to place.^[6]

The fragility of the manuscript prevented carbon dating. Even if the document was strong enough, the technique can only date the paper and not the writing. Once again, the style was the only clue.

Unfortunately, it was a very broad one. The original Coptic was not written before the seventh century. Despite the dating issue, the palimpsest remains invaluable for its uniqueness.

4 Earliest Record Of Algol

The star Algol is actually a 3-in-1 deal. Officially discovered in 1669, the three suns move around each other, causing the “star” to dim and brighten. A papyrus studied in 2015 suggested that the ancient Egyptians discovered it first.

Called the Cairo Calendar, the document guided each day of the year, giving auspicious dates for ceremonies, forecasts, warnings, and even the activities of the gods. Previously, researchers felt the ancient calendar had a link to the heavens, but they never had any proof.

The study found that the calendar’s positive days matched Algol’s brightest days as well as those of the Moon. The appearances of one deity, Horus, also matched the star system’s 2,867-day cycle.

This strongly suggests that the ancient Egyptians were the first to follow Algol around 3,200 years ago. More remarkably, they did so without a telescope even though the system was almost 92.25 light-years away.^[7]

3 Unique Ninja Oath

In Japan, rumors of a written ninja oath persisted for almost 50 years. If true, this was a historic gem. Unlike movie ninjas, the real guys used stealth to gather intelligence and rarely used weapons. Most of their traditions and training were passed down verbally from master to student. A written document, especially an oath, would be a first.

In 2018, the piece finally surfaced. It was donated to a museum by the Kizu family, once a ninja clan from the town of Iga. The donated cache consisted of 130 ancient documents, but the oath was the most remarkable. Written by a man called Inosuke Kizu, he thanked his masters for the ninjutsu training and vowed to never reveal the secret knowledge. Not even to his immediate family.

The 300-year-old paper also captured the penalty of sharing ninja techniques with outsiders. The author accepted that his betrayal would cause his descendants to be tortured by the gods for generations. The letter was probably handed to his masters and returned to the Kizu family after his death.^[8]

2 Ferdinand’s Code

To safeguard military information from his enemies, King Ferdinand of Spain wrote in secret code. It was a little too effective. His correspondence with a commander named Gonzalo de Cordoba went undeciphered for 500 years.

Ferdinand sponsored Christopher Columbus’s trips to the Americas and fought several enemies. He recaptured Spain from the Moors in 1492 and battled France for the Mediterranean.

The letters promised interesting insights into the war king’s mind. Spain’s intelligence agency picked up the challenge. Ferdinand’s alphabet had 88 symbols, 237 letters, and six accompanying characters (such as numbers and triangles) that made each letter’s meaning more complex. In addition, the “language” ran continuously without breaks to indicate words.^[9]

In 2018, after six months, the agency cracked enough of the code to read four pieces of correspondence. They revealed details ranging from instructions on troop deployment in Italy to berating the commander for making decisions without Ferdinand’s approval. The breakthrough is a good step toward cracking the rest of the royal mail.

1 Extinct Language Spoken Again

A Cambridge academic loved ancient Babylonian so much that he decided to learn the language. Not just to read it but to speak it correctly. Babylonian went extinct around the time that Jesus was born.

Nearly 2,000 years of silence did not deter Dr. Martin Worthington, who already spoke Sumerian, Assyrian, English, Italian, and French. For over 20 years, he dove into ancient scripts and compiled a unique archive of research.

After gleaning correspondence, treaties, letters, and scientific reports written in Babylonian, Worthington arrived at a point where he could speak it. He was the first to admit that the project was not perfect. Although he could give a speech in the lost language, he was not fluent.

Worthington now teaches the language to Assyriology students, mainly to bring them closer to the ancient world they chose to study. Interestingly, if the two were to meet, ancient Babylonians might understand modern speakers because the language is related to Hebrew and Arabic, which replaced Babylonian as the Middle East’s dominant language.^[10]

Fish tanks are tranquil until scientists want answers and drunk people want some fun. Then the fish stories start to get interesting . . . and more than a little weird.

Beyond the laboratory and fish-related emergency room visits, some of the best tales come from public aquariums. From lifesaving firsts to the mysterious case of a shark abandoned at a worm farm, no fishbowl will ever look the same again.

10 Infectious Fish Pedicures

A trendy way to exfoliate feet is to get a fish pedicure. Clients soak their feet in a container full of tiny fish that consume dead skin cells.

In 2018, a woman in New York allowed the fish, called Garra rufa, to feast on her toes. Months later, her toenails fractured. The bottom layer could be seen underneath the top.

Since it was painless, she did not visit a doctor for six months. Ultimately, she was diagnosed with onychomadesis. This condition occurs when something stops nails from growing and, eventually, they fall off. When all other causes of onychomadesis were ruled out (injury or a family history of nail disease), the woman became the first case linked to a fish pedicure.^[1]

In the past, Garra fish had tested positive for several bacteria that cause skin and tissue infections. Hygiene is another problem. Since the fish are in the tubs, the containers cannot be properly cleaned between customers. Sanitary risks include individuals with foot diseases who use the tub before other clients.

9 Oldest Fish In Captivity

In 2018, an Australian lungfish in San Francisco celebrated her 80th year at the California Academy of Sciences’ Steinhart Aquarium. Her age is closer to 90 as she arrived as an adult in 1938. Named Methuselah, she measures 1.2 meters (4 ft) long.

The oldest fish in captivity loves figs and prawns, belly rubs, and certain volunteers. Methuselah also prefers her own tank. When caretakers placed her in a larger aquarium with two younger lungfish, she insisted on hovering upside down until they moved her back.

Genetics play a role in her long life, but the species is extraordinary in other ways. Lungfish, which are primitive and go back 400 million years, use a swim bladder to float and breathe air. Some even walk over the ground to search for a new pond.

Methuselah seems happy to aim for a century. According to her caretakers, she eats like a pig and loves human interaction. For this reason, the aquarium’s coddled group of lungfish are often called “underwater puppies.”^[2]

8 Fish Have Personalities

Scientists tackled a tricky question in 2015. Wondering if fish had personalities, they decided to create a horror show. They scared guppies with a fake heron beak plunging into the water. On another occasion, they used “Big Al.” He was a carnivorous fish called a cichlid which would suddenly appear on the other side of the glass.

When a guppy was moved to this scare tank, the only shelter was a small plastic cover. After getting the holy sin frightened out of it, the single fish would be returned to a well-protected tank full of other guppies. After three days, it went back to the scare tank to endure five minutes of terror. This continued for a month.

After putting each of the 105 guppies through this experiment, scientists concluded that the fish had personalities. All reacted in a unique way. It was not accidental. The guppies repeated their chosen behaviors (hiding, fleeing, freezing) during the follow-up encounters with the heron and cichlid every three days.^[3]

7 Catfish Drinking Game

In 2016, a drunk man arrived in the emergency room with a bizarre injury. That evening, the unnamed 28-year-old had partied with friends in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. They had decided it would be a good idea to swallow live fish.

Several goldfish were taken from a home aquarium and gulped down without a problem. Then someone suggested another tank occupant—a small catfish. However, it was a Corydoras aeneus, a toxic creature with spines. When threatened, these catfish stiffen their venom-filled needles to avoid getting eaten.

Needless to say, the spiky creature got stuck in the man’s throat. Choking, he threw up blood and beer—but no fish. His drunk friends applied the Heimlich maneuver incorrectly. The man tried to wash the fish down with beer, ice cream, and honey. Finally, after waiting several hours, he went to the hospital.^[4]

Delicate surgery ultimately removed the dead catfish. It was preserved in the Rotterdam Natural History Museum, joining a collection that highlights dramatic encounters between humans and animals.

6 Wrasse Recognize Themselves

There is a simple test for self-awareness. A mirror shows the subject an artificial mark on their body. Any related reaction, like rubbing the spot, suggests an awareness that the image represents their real body. Animals that have passed include dolphins, chimpanzees, elephants, pigeons, and crows.

In 2018, researchers wanted a self-aware fish. They picked the cleaner wrasse. One ability made them the perfect candidate. Wrasse feed on parasites. They have evolved to notice unusual spots on other fish.

When 10 wrasse were isolated in individual mirrored tanks, things got interesting. At first, they mistook their reflections for rivals and fought with themselves. However, within days, they performed “friendly dancing” in front of the mirrors.^[5]

Wrasse are solitary and do not dance for other fish. Although hard to prove, they could have been dancing to see themselves move. When colored gel was applied to their heads (only noticeable in the mirror), seven wrasse spent more time with their reflections or rubbing their heads against things in the tank.

5 Fish Floaties

Leafy sea dragons resemble seahorses that ate too much plant fertilizer. The entire fish is covered with leaflike fronds.

In 2018, the Florida Aquarium in Tampa acquired three young sea dragons. While observing the Australian fish, the aquarium’s vet noticed something distressing. They ate badly and kept sinking to the bottom of the tank.

Leafy sea dragons float for a reason—to look like seaweed and not food. For them to hit the dirt meant something was seriously wrong. Surprisingly, it was discovered that all three suffered from the same condition—a swim bladder that never developed. The organ is responsible for buoyancy, and without it, the trio could not get off the floor.

In a genius move, the vet created floaties. He used black rings made of neoprene, a buoyant material that was both comfortable and resistant to salt water. The rings were looped around the sea dragons’ fragile midsections and sewn together at the ends. It worked. Once the fish found themselves floating, they started feeding and growing again.^[6]

4 The Stickleback C-Section

Stickleback females spray eggs for hopeful dads to fertilize. There is no hanky-panky or pregnancy with this species. In the 1950s, a pregnant stickleback was found in Scotland. No investigation was done. But in 2016, researchers trawled Scotland for more and found a heavily pregnant stickleback. Since she was dying, the fish was humanely destroyed and the eggs removed via C-section.

Although three cases are known (where egg-laying fish got pregnant), this was the only time that the embryos survived. They hatched in the laboratory and became healthy adults.

But how did a member of a species that doesn’t get pregnant carry healthy young in her belly?

DNA tests showed that she did not clone herself because the babies had two parents. The stickleback likely swam through a sperm cloud and was fertilized through her egg tube.

Beyond being a major evolutionary leap, the mother’s body also aced a crucial male role. To stimulate a healthy development, stickleback dads fan the eggs. The C-section fry were normal, meaning a mysterious internal process had replaced the father’s fanning.^[7]

3 Robot Guppies

The Trinidadian guppy does something weird with its eyes. Although the eyes are usually silver, anger turns them black within seconds. As researchers are curious creatures who go the extra mile, they decided to create robot guppies to find out if the change was voluntary and what it communicated within this fishy population.

In 2018, they took a dead specimen and made silicone replicas. The incredibly realistic fakes had either silver or black eyes. They were positioned over food and given lifelike movements thanks to a small motor. The social dynamics that followed showed that black eyes had a very specific meaning.

Smaller guppies approached the food when the robot had silver eyes. However, a dark look communicated what researchers called “honest aggression”—the guppy’s absolute readiness to fight. It also meant that the guppy was guarding a worthy resource.

When the real guppies were bigger, they beat up the robot. This was to loot the resource and thrash a smaller fish that dared to use the look. It remains unknown how guppies flood their eyes with black.^[8]

2 The Sandwich Ray

Macduff Marine Aquarium in Aberdeenshire is home to several thornback rays. Late in 2018, staff decided to clean one of the tanks. It was filled with ray eggs, known as a mermaid’s purse. In this case, they had to be removed as all the babies had hatched and the cases were empty.

However, when an employee tried to push the air out of one purse, it would not give. He peeled back one side and was surprised to find an unhatched ray. The unlucky creature had been trapped inside its egg. Since the case was destroyed and the ray was still an embryo, a surrogate shell had to be found.^[9]

The solution was as simple as it was unusual—a sandwich bag. The ray happily incubated inside the plastic for two months and eventually “hatched.” The day came when staff decided that it was ready to leave the bag. The baby thornback was removed and placed with 10 others where it thrived, seemingly unaffected by its peculiar past.

1 The Abandoned Shark

In 2012, a wildlife sanctuary was closed down outside of Melbourne, Australia. The operator was supposed to preserve a species of giant earthworm but was caught running an illegal animal park.

One of the creatures that was definitely not an earthworm was a great white shark. The enormous predator was supposed to stay there temporarily while its real home was being prepared elsewhere. However, when new owners took over the park, they kept the shark.^[10]

When the park was closed due to irregularities, the animals were handed over to the RSPCA. At this point, the shark’s story gets muddy. Not only was it left behind at the worm sanctuary, but it also somehow ended up in a tank of formaldehyde. This preserved the 4-meter-long (13 ft) great white.

The empty park could be considered spooky, but the shark tank was downright haunting. The corpse, hanging motionless in green water, recently became an Internet sensation after urban explorers encountered the beast and posted the video to YouTube.

The body is an accumulated wonder of parts fine-tuned by nature to perform precision tasks. Venture past the usual facts, and things tend to get interesting. In recent times, unknown body parts have turned up in fossils and living creatures, ranging from cute to creepy to deadly.

Doctors have grown things in strange places and traced the bizarre origins of the most normal of features. When life goes wrong, body parts can also unveil gruesome mysteries, suffering buried in history, and medical problems that beggar belief.

10 The Yo-Yo Injury

In 2005, Dazzling Dave visited schools in North Dakota. The professional yo-yo performer entertained kids for up to 12 hours at a time. A week later, the man, whose real name was David Schulte, noticed that his right index finger warmed more slowly than the rest. In cold weather, it was also the first to freeze.

When it started shifting colors—alternating between red, purple, and blue—he sought medical help. The doctor suspected a blood clot. A scan showed something else entirely.

There was no blood flow past the second knuckle of the finger. For some reason, the blood vessels had suddenly constricted and for too long. The unusual injury was probably caused by years of hitting that particular finger with a yo-yo.

Technically, it caused a condition known as Raynaud’s syndrome which can result in nerve damage and tissue loss. Luckily, the champion yo-yo artist suffered no lasting problems. A month of popping blood thinners solved the situation.^[1]

9 Crankles

In 2017, researchers riffled through the Natural History Museum in London. They found a game-changing fossil. The bones belonged to a carnivore called Teleocrater rhadinus.

When it was discovered in the 1930s, experts failed to find its place in the evolutionary tree. As a result, it was shelved and forgotten. The modern study determined that the creature was 245 million years old. It lived 10 million years before the dinosaurs. Even better, it was one of their ancestors.

Teleocrater‘s main surprise was a body structure more reminiscent of a crocodile than a dinosaur. In particular, they had crankles. Short for crocodile ankles, they gave the animal a reptilian gait on all fours like a monitor lizard.

This was significant. An impossibly long time ago, reptiles called archosaurs split into two lineages: the bird branch (which led to the dinosaurs) while the other remained reptilian, with today’s alligators and crocodiles.^[2]

Teleocrater is the earliest-known member from the bird line, but its crankles were like a strange missing link connecting it back to the archosaurs and the reptile branch. This profoundly challenged what scholars thought they knew about early dinosaur evolution.

8 Switchblade Cheeks

The stonefish is a rare fish. It also haunts Indo-Pacific coastlines as one of the most venomous creatures in the world. In 2003, a pet stonefish died. As the owner was a researcher, the fish hit the dissection table instead of the local pet cemetery. It started 15 years of curiosity about the species.

In 2018, when a “switchblade” was found in its face, the same scientist unraveled the mechanism behind the feature. The whole thing was bizarre. In other fish, the lachrymal bone is solidly fixed underneath the eye as part of the skull. When a stonefish gets huffy, this spike shoots out in a 90-degree angle—on each cheek.

This is no mustache. The lachrymal bones are dangerously serrated. To activate the spines, the fish pulls on chewing muscles in the upper jaw. This rotates and locks the spine through a mechanism shaped like a roly-poly. One stonefish species upped the freaky factor. Centropogon australis fluoresces in two tones. While the head emits red light, the spikes have a green glow.^[3]

7 Selam’s Foot

One of mankind’s most famous ancestors is Lucy. Found in 1974, she was an adult Australopithecus afarensis from Ethiopia. In 2000, a second one was found nearby. The female toddler was quickly dubbed “Lucy’s baby.” However, the child was the older fossil, having died around three million years ago, about 100,000 years before Lucy.

The youngster, renamed Selam, had the most complete set of A. afarensis foot bones ever found. Scientists already knew the species walked upright like modern humans. Indeed, Selam’s foot and ankle anatomy was identical to those of people alive today. The unusual part was that the two species developed their feet differently.

While young (Selam died at age three), A. afarensis‘s big toe was more fingerlike. It probably helped them to cling to their parents and trees for safety. Selam’s heel was also more fragile than those of human children.^[4]

Even though young A. afarensis were less suited for walking upright, their feet were already designed for life on the ground. Only later would they grow the same strong heel bones present in humans from birth.

6 Scaly Origin Of Teeth

In the quest to find out where human teeth came from, researchers turned to skates. These fish are covered in primitive scales called dermal denticles. Sharks also have them, which is why their skin feels like sandpaper.

A 2017 study found that the scales grew from neural crest cells, a critical element in mammal tooth development. A second find also suggested that teeth evolved from fish skin. Denticles, which roughly resemble teeth, also consist of dentine. A modern tooth is packed with this hard tissue.

However, the discovery does not mean that all species got their snappers this way. Research on zebra fish showed another evolutionary path where scales and teeth evolved from different types of cells. Skate skin presents a strong case that certain species grew scales as armor plating. Somehow, through millions of years, this external skeleton became modified and moved to the mouth as teeth.^[5]

5 Hitler’s Death Confirmed

When Adolf Hitler realized in 1945 that he could no longer escape the invading Allied forces, he committed suicide in his bunker. The Russians found his remains and threw the body into a river. For decades, they kept skull fragments to which nobody had access. During that time, rumors abounded that the fuhrer had faked his own death.

The conspiracy theories had sound roots. It is a fact that many high-ranking Nazis escaped when Germany’s power was broken. But things took a weird turn in 2009. Nick Bellantoni, an archaeologist and bone specialist, handled Hitler’s skull at the Russian State Archive.

During a documentary for the History Channel, he declared that the fragments belonged to a woman under 40. The Archive responded by saying that Bellantoni had never been there or handled the remains.^[6]

In 2018, the Archive finally permitted French pathologists to study the fragments. The teeth had complex dental work that perfectly matched Hitler’s medical records. Blue stains and a bullet hole showed that the fuhrer’s suicide plan began with swallowing a cyanide capsule, followed by a shot to the head.

4 White Blood

Recently, doctors in Germany faced something they had never seen before. A 39-year-old patient’s blood was so pale and thick that it looked like milk. The medical condition was not a mystery. The nearly comatose patient suffered from extreme hypertriglyceridemia. It is caused by too much fat in the blood.

Siphoning off the offending triglyceride molecules and returning the cleaned plasma to the body usually solves the problem. However, when staff tried the normal route, his viscous blood clogged the hospital’s filtering equipment. Not once, but twice. The problem was a record amount of triglycerides. Around 500 mg/dL is considered “high.” The man’s count read an astonishing 18,000 mg/dL.

Desperate to save his life, doctors resorted to an ancient remedy abandoned by modern medicine—bloodletting. A good amount of the white gunk was drained and replaced with red blood cell concentrates and saline solution. It worked. Although the cause of the severity is unknown, the patient’s genes, obesity, and irregular consumption of his diabetes medication might have combined to cause the mother of all hypertriglyceridemia cases.^[7]

3 The Limb Pit

During the Civil War, the Second Battle of Bull Run took place north of Manassas, Virginia, in 1862. In 2018, archaeologists were investigating the battlefield when they discovered something exceptionally rare.

A shallow grave held two soldiers and the sawed-off limbs of up to 11 other men. The complete bodies, Burial 1 and 2, could not be identified other than being Union soldiers from the North.

Both died brutal deaths. Burial 1’s leg had been broken by a bullet which was still stuck in the bone when the skeleton was found. The injury was so bad that field surgeons probably left him to die. This frequently happened when there were too many injured soldiers.

Burial 2 was placed in the pit after the first man and rested slightly on top of him. His own death resulted from three bullets. One smashed his arm, another buried itself in the shin, and a third struck his groin. The bodies, with nine severed arms and legs arranged around them, were a unique find hailed as “one in a million.”^[8]

2 The Forearm Ear

When army private Shamika Burrage returned from leave in 2016, a car accident put her in rehabilitation for months. She also lost an ear. After Burrage recovered, her appearance bothered her so much that a counselor suggested plastic surgery.

In 2018, the William Beaumont Army Medical Center in Texas performed a rare procedure. They took rib cartilage from Burrage and shaped it like an ear. Afterward, it was inserted under the skin of her forearm. For the woman to experience feeling in the ear, doctors needed the new body part to develop fresh arteries, veins, and nerves—all available from the arm.

Once ready, surgeons replaced Burrage’s missing ear. Doctors also took the opportunity to reopen her hearing canal to restore the hearing she had lost. This was the first time that army plastic surgeons had performed this type of operation. However, the procedure dates to the early 20th century. Back in the day, rib cartilage ears were also grown under the skin but without the nerves and blood vessels.^[9]

1 Severed Russian Hands

Early in 2018, a fisherman decided to visit a small island near the Amur River in Siberia. Upon arrival, he noticed a hand in the snow. There was no sign of the rest of the body. Soon afterward, the man found a bag stuffed with the same grisly thing. All told, there were 54 human hands severed at the wrist. There was also medical waste nearby.

Social media cried foul after an anonymous sender circulated the photos online, showing the brutal cache in detail. The Russian government was unfazed. Investigators insisted that the amputations had a mundane explanation. Some forensic laboratories in Russia dispose of bodies without identities but keep the hands as a record.^[10]

In this case, authorities admitted that the unidentified laboratory broke the law by dumping the hands. Despite lifting fingerprints from only one pair, investigators also kept insisting that the hands were not the result of darker criminal activities.

Recent archaeological finds reveal that the Vikings were not only fierce, bloodthirsty warriors but also farmers, skilled craftsmen, impressive mariners, and expert traders as well. As more discoveries are made, our knowledge of the Vikings will widen even more—dispelling many myths surrounding this fascinating group of people.

10Tomb Of Viking Power Couple

In 2012, engineers building a highway in Harup, Denmark, discovered a wooden building. Later on, the discovery was identified as a Viking tomb. Also known as dodehus or death house, the tomb contained the remains of a couple archaeologists believed held a high social status in Viking society.

Experts discovered two interesting items buried alongside the couple: a large battle axe and two keys. The axe, which was found together with the man, was considered to be the “machine gun” of the Viking era. Europeans back then trembled at the sight of this battle axe. The keys, on the other hand, were “a symbol of [the woman’s] power and status as a great lady.”

The researchers also discovered a third body buried alongside the couple. They surmised that the man was added at a later date, and he might have been the couple’s successor.

9Viking Women Colonized New Lands Too

A new study involving ancient Viking DNA suggested that Viking women played a significant role in the colonization of overseas lands. Experts arrived at this conclusion after discovering that the maternal DNA of the Vikings “closely matches that of modern-day people in the North Atlantic isles,” especially that of Shetland and Orkney Islands in the United Kingdom.

This discovery also debunked the widely held assumption that the Vikings were merely pillagers and raiders. They were family-oriented people as well who “established settlements and grew crops” and even engaged in trade. In addition, this recent finding challenged a study published in 2001 that suggested that Viking men would travel alone and then bring local female captives when they colonized new territories.

8Viking Fortress

In 2014, a team of archaeologists discovered a Viking fortress in the Danish island of Zealand. They believed that the structure dated back to the 10th century. Before the discovery of this specific fortress, three others were unearthed in Denmark: Aggersborg, Trelleborg, and Fyrkat. These structures are collectively known as the “Trelleborg” fortresses.

The newly discovered fortress, which is located south of Copenhagen, is quite huge, spanning 165 meters (476 ft) across.

This discovery showed that the Vikings were not only a “fierce band of warriors with cool headgear” but were also decent architects, capable of building magnificent fortresses. In addition, this discovery gave archaeologists the opportunity to better understand Viking conflicts and wars.

7North America’s Second Viking Site

Known for using satellite technology in her excavations, “space archaeologist” Sarah Parcak, together with her team, discovered a second possible Viking settlement in North America. They arrived at this conclusion after finding the remains of turf walls and an iron-working hearth in Point Rosee in Newfoundland, Canada.

The presence of an iron-working hearth at the site is a strong evidence of a Viking settlement since they used iron nails to build their ships. It also eliminated the possibility of the site belonging to Native Americans or Basque fisherman. In addition, after doing radiocarbon testing, Parcak and her team were able to date the site back to 800 and 1300 AD—the same time the Vikings were at their peak.

This discovery is monumental since it can potentially dethrone Christopher Columbus as the discoverer of the New World.

6Viking Treasure Trove

In September 2014, metal-detecting enthusiast Derek McLennan discovered one of the biggest Viking treasure troves in Scotland. The trove, which consisted of more than 100 precious artifacts including solid gold jewelry, was unearthed on church land.

Stuart Campbell of Scotland’s treasure trove unit considered this discovery historically significant since it could potentially alter the way Scots view “their historic relationship with the Vikings.” Contrary to popular belief, the Vikings didn’t only carry out raids in Scotland. They also settled and traded in some parts of the country, including the area where the treasure trove was discovered.

5Climate Change Didn’t Kill The Greenland Viking Settlement

For years, it has been widely believed within the scientific community that climate change killed the Viking settlement in Greenland. Specifically, it was assumed that the Greenland Vikings died within a 200-year period of worsening climate known as the Little Ice Age. However, a new study suggested that this might not have been the case.

It’s true, the Vikings experienced “years of harsh and cold winters and summers,” they were cut off from their homelands in Europe due to lack of timber for building ships, and they were left entirely on their own when Scandinavian traders stopped passing by Greenland, but these challenges “didn’t knock them out.” They were good at adapting and were able to outlive climate change and its devastating effects for centuries.

So why did they disappear? Experts still do not know, but one thing’s for sure. Climate change has been eliminated from the list.

4Viking Parliament

For years, the exact location of a Viking Parliament in Dingwall, Scotland, have eluded archaeologists and historians alike. It was only in 2013 when it was finally located. After excavating for more than a year, archaeologists hit the jackpot—they unearthed the remains of the lost Viking parliament at a parking lot known as the Cromartie Memorial car park.

More popularly known as a “Thing,” the Viking parliament was built on the instructions of a powerful Viking earl named Thorfinn the Mighty. Aside from the Thing, Thorfinn also commissioned the construction of a ditch, an aqueduct, and a road.

This discovery has elicited excitement among historians in the United Kingdom since it could “help them learn more about the Norse Vikings, who battled for control of land across the north of Scotland.”

3Denmark’s Oldest Viking Crucifix

In 2016, a metal enthusiast named Dennis Fabricius Holm discovered what experts dubbed as “Denmark’s oldest Viking crucifix.” The pendant, which was found on the Danish island of Fune, measures 4.06 centimeters (1.6 in) in height and weighs 12.76 grams (0.45 oz).

Archaeologists estimated that the rare Viking crucifix dated back to the half of the 900s, making it much older than “Harald Bluetooth’s runic stone in Jelling.” Up until the discovery of the crucifix, Harald’s massive runestones were considered to be the earliest representation of Jesus Christ on a cross in Denmark. This discovery suggested that the Vikings converted to Christianity much earlier than previously thought.

2Hammer Of Thor

Since the first millennium, more than 1,000 hammer-shaped pendants have been unearthed across Northern Europe. For years, experts have debated over the true significance of these amulets. It was only recently when the mystery was finally solved—the pendants represented the Mjolnir, Thor’s powerful hammer.

This breakthrough was made when a team of Danish researchers unearthed a 10th-century Viking amulet on the island of Lolland in Denmark. This particular amulet was the only one with a runic inscription. The words “Hmar x is” was inscribed on the pendant, and when translated to modern English, it meant “This is a hammer.”

Basing on this discovery, the researchers concluded that the hammer-shaped pendants found across Northern Europe were Thor’s mini-hammers, and Vikings wore them for protection.

1‘For Allah’ Inscription

In the late 1800s, a team of archaeologists unearthed a ring with a pink-violet colored stone at Birka, Sweden. During the Viking era, Birka was an important trading center. The mysterious object was discovered inside a rectangular wooden coffin containing the remains of a female Viking. Intriguingly, the ring contained an Arabic inscription.

Being the only ring with an Arabic inscription ever discovered in Scandinavia, the object caught the interest of an international team of researchers. They analyzed the ring, and in 2015 they announced that the inscription meant “For Allah” or “To Allah.”

The researchers suggested that the woman who wore the ring could have been from the Islamic world or that “a Swedish Viking got [it], by trade or robbery, while visiting the Islamic Caliphate.” Regardless of how the ring ended up in Birka, this monumental discovery proved that the Scandinavian Vikings did come in contact with Islamic kingdoms.

Nonliving objects and animals are not always safe from litigation. Over the years, people have sued animals and even inanimate objects like puppets. In turn, people have been sued by animals and nonhuman objects.

Obviously, lawsuits of this nature aren’t actually filed by animals or nonliving things but by people or groups. While the following court cases are bizarre, hilarious, or both, they show just how far people will go to get justice.

10 Musician Loses Court Battle Against Puppet

South African musician Steve Hofmeyr holds the rare distinction of having lost a court case to a puppet. The puppet in question is Chester Missing, which is owned by South African ventriloquist and comedian Conrad Koch (pictured above with Chester).

The whole thing began in November 2014, when Hofmeyr blamed black people for apartheid. Koch replied in a series of tweets he posted on his personal Twitter page and Missing’s Twitter page in which he criticized Hofmeyr over his racist statement. One of his messages urged Hofmeyr’s sponsors to cancel their contracts with the musician.

Hofmeyr requested for a protection order against Koch and Missing over what he called threats and harassment. However, he failed to receive the order when a court determined that Koch and Missing had done nothing wrong and could tweet about Hofmeyr. The court also ordered Hofmeyr to pay Koch and Missing’s attorney fees.

Koch quickly returned to making tweets about Hofmeyr, who he called “Racistboy.” The less-than-amused Hofmeyr accused the courts of siding with the comedian and his puppet.^[1]

9 Kansas Sues A Toyota Truck And Loses

In 2018, the state of Kansas lost a lawsuit against a Toyota pickup truck. Sergeant Christopher Ricard of the Geary County Sheriff’s Department stopped the truck over a partially obscured traffic plate. However, he impounded it when Scooby, his police dog, sniffed out 11.9 grams of marijuana hidden inside the vehicle. Sergeant Ricard also found $84,000 in cash.

The state filed to seize the vehicle and money. Considering that it was a civil forfeiture case, the state listed the truck, money, and marijuana as defendants instead of the two men driving it. However, the court determined that the state could not legally seize the truck and money because Sergeant Ricard had illegally extended the stop to allow Scooby to sniff the vehicle.^[2]

8 Police Dog Wins Lawsuit Filed By A Burglar It Bit

On July 6, 2013, a Georgia man named Randall Kevin Jones broke into his ex’s home and stole several items, including her television, camera, and game console. The unnamed ex called the police after spotting Jones leaving her home. Officers from the Gwinnett County Police Department responded to the scene.

The police found Jones and ordered him to surrender. Jones didn’t and started to run. He continued running, even after an officer threatened to send a police dog after him. The officer ultimately unleashed the dog, named Draco. Draco bit Jones, sending him falling into a ravine. Jones required some stitches for his injuries.

Two years later, Jones sued the police department for “excessive use of force.” As defendants, he named at least three officers and the dog, which was listed as “Officer K-9 Draco of the Gwinnett County Police Department in his individual capacity.” Jones claimed Officer K-9 Draco bit him “for what seemed like a lifetime.” He also claimed the officers watched and didn’t try to get Draco off him as this was happening.

Gwinnet County tried to have the lawsuit dismissed, but a federal judge rejected this, so the county appealed. Finally, Judge Robin Rosenbaum of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta threw the case out, saying, “We hold that a dog may not be sued individually for negligence since a dog is not a person.” She added that dogs cannot be issued a subpoena, cannot get an attorney, and cannot pay damages if found guilty.^[3]

7 Judge Stops Horse From Suing Its Owner

In 2018, a horse in Oregon sued its owner for neglect. It requested $100,000 in damages. However, a judge threw the case out because horses cannot sue their owners, or anybody for that matter. The horse itself did not file the lawsuit, though. The Animal Legal Defense Fund did on its behalf.

The horse, named Justice, was owned by Gwendolyn Vercher, who had left it outside in the cold. Justice was hungry, thirsty, and underweight by 136 kilograms (300 lb) at the time it was rescued. It also suffered from frostbite. Vercher was charged with neglect of an animal and paid for the horse’s treatment.

However, the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed the lawsuit because Justice could need money for further treatment. The court ruled the horse could not file the lawsuit because otherwise, courts would soon be filled with animals suing their owners. Gwendolyn Vercher said the lawsuit was “outrageous.”^[4]

6 Aborted Fetus Sues Abortion Clinic

In March 2019, Ryan Magers sued the Alabama Women’s Center for Reproductive Alternatives in Huntsville, Alabama, for aborting his unborn child. Also listed as defendants were the company that made the pill used for the abortion, the doctor who did the abortion, and every organization the doctor worked with.

Ryan Magers called the fetus Baby Roe. He claimed his girlfriend aborted Baby Roe in February 2017. She was six weeks pregnant at the time and went ahead with the abortion after he refused. Magers said he filed the lawsuit because he wants the law to protect fathers of unborn children.

For now, the law allows the mother to abort the baby without any consideration from the father. The lawsuit has raised eyebrows among feminists and pro-abortion advocates. The case is currently ongoing.^[5]

5 Monkey Selfie Ends In A Win For Photographer

In 2008, photographer David Slater encountered a troop of crested black macaques while taking pictures at an Indonesian wildlife park. While he concentrated on shooing some curious monkeys, others snuck to his camera, which was on a tripod, and started to click on the shutter.

The monkeys took hundreds of pictures, some of which included Slater. However, the most popular was a selfie taken by a monkey that pressed on the shutter. What followed was a bizarre copyright battle between Slater and the monkey, which was named Naruto.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) claimed that Naruto owned the copyright to the picture. Slater insisted that he owned the copyright and not Naruto. In 2015, PETA filed a copyright lawsuit on behalf of Naruto. In 2017, PETA agreed to dump the lawsuit on the condition that Slater gave them 25 percent of the royalties he received from the images.

However, in 2018, a court stopped PETA from settling the lawsuit because it wanted to pass judgment that would allow judges to decide over similar incidents in the future. The court ruled that animals cannot file or own copyrights. This effectively gave copyright ownership to Slater.^[6]

4 Wheelchair Thief Sues Police Dog

On April 23, 2015, 55-year-old Stanley McQuery broke into the Hillcrest, San Diego, home of 79-year-old William Ballard. He attacked Ballard and stole his phone and electric wheelchair. He also demanded money. The police were called in.

Officers found McQuery in the neighborhood. For some reason, his getaway vehicle was Ballard’s wheelchair, which traveled at a pitiable 3.2 kilometers per hour (2 mph). The police sent a dog after McQuery after he refused orders to stop. McQuery was ultimately sentenced to 16 years in prison because he already had three felony convictions.

In 2016, McQuery sued the police dog for “excessive force, assault and battery” while in prison. He demanded $7 million in compensation. He claimed he was already on the ground at the time the officer set the dog on him. He added that the officer told the dog, “Eat him up, eat him up.”

McQuery later claimed he made a mistake by naming the dog as a defendant. He said he loved dogs and never planned to sue a dog. However, this does not explain the fact that he listed the dog as a defendant twice.^[7]

3 Monkey Gets Charged With Assault For Attacking Woman

On November 29, 1877, The New York Times reported that one Ms. Mary Shea lost a lawsuit against Jimmy Dillio, a monkey owned by one Mr. Casslo Dillio. Trouble began for Jimmy when Mr. Dillio took him to Ms. Shea’s shop. Shea offered Jimmy a piece of candy, which he accepted while chattering in appreciation.

However, Jimmy turned violent and bit Ms. Shea’s finger when she playfully attempted to retrieve the candy. Mrs. Shea got Mr. Dillio and Jimmy arrested and taken to court. Judge Flammer threw the case out, saying the that court could not charge monkeys. Jimmy reportedly exhibited some gentlemanly behavior by doffing his hat after Judge Flammer delivered the decision.^[8]

2 Woman Attempts To Get Monkeys Charged With Sexual Assault

In 2015, 23-year-old Melissa Hart tried getting a pair of monkeys arrested and charged with sexual assault while he was visiting Gibraltar. She was watching the Barbary macaques when two of them attacked her without warning.

The monkeys scratched her with their paws, pulled at her clothes and hair, and removed her bikini top. She screamed for help during the attack, but nearby tourists just laughed. She was saved when a warden chased the monkeys away.

A startled, embarrassed, and angry Ms. Hart reported the incident to the police and tried to file charges against the monkeys. The officers turned down her request because monkeys are wild animals and cannot be charged. One officer even asked her if she could identify the monkeys in a police lineup.^[9]

1 Man Sues Police Dog After He Was Bitten

In 2018, 66-year-old Joseph Carr of Oregon sued a police dog named Rolo and its handler, Deputy Jason Bernards of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, because Rolo bit him. Rolo bit Carr on September 18, 2016, as Carr attended the opening of a store.

Carr met Deputy Bernards and Rolo standing at the entrance of the store. Bernards told Rolo to “say hi,” which Carr took as an invitation to pet the dog. However, Rolo bit Carr in the abdomen when Carr touched the canine’s ear and head. Carr sued for $50,000 in damages.

Deputy Bernards claimed that Carr was bitten because he wrapped his hands around the dog’s snout. However, Carr’s attorney, Brian Hefner, noted that surveillance footage shows that Carr only touched the dog’s head and ear. Carr said the bite scar constantly reminds him of the “horrific and unnecessary event.”^[10]

Statues and paintings of Jesus can get predictable. They stare, pray, suffer on the cross, or rest in a manger.

Upon closer inspection, some have bullet holes. Others hide mysterious messages. This being art, controversial interpretations are always going to be there. But one of them, the claim that Jesus was a victim of sexual violence, could have repercussions throughout the Catholic Church.

See Also: 10 Controversial Depictions Of Jesus

10 The Creepy Jesus Lamb

As history has proven, Jesus paintings are prone to botched restorations. When another masterpiece was cleaned and shown to the public in 2020, many thought it had happened again.

The painting was The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. It was created during the 15th century by two brothers who depicted Jesus as a sheep. Over time, the image turned hazy. A three-year project restored the artwork, and the result was freaky.

The lamb’s face was very humanoid. Although it disturbed visitors and even shocked the experts, this was not another screwup. During 1550, two different artists had changed the animal’s appearance to look more sheepish. But the original version was designed so that the humanlike face gazed almost directly at the viewer. Some critics did not appreciate the look and described the eyes as “overly confrontational.”^[1]

9 Lost Masterpiece Found In A Kitchen

In 2019, a French woman spring-cleaned before moving. Among the things she no longer wanted was a painting. The family heirloom was hanging above the kitchen hot plate and was rather depressing. It showed Jesus being shoved around by a crowd. Perhaps warned by instinct, she had it appraised. The decision made her $26.8 million richer.

The work belonged to 13th-century Renaissance master Cimabue. He had created it as part of a multi-paneled altarpiece. The Frenchwoman’s painting was called The Mocking of Christ and was the third panel to be found.^[2]

When the panel was slotted into place, the woodworm damage on the back matched the scars of the second painting in the series. Coincidentally, this was also the third piece to be discovered overall. There could be as many as five panels still out there. Whoever finds them can visit an auctioneer and retire with millions.

8 John The Baptist Was Once Painted Over Jesus

In the scheme of things, images of Christ might be seen as more important than those of John the Baptist. One 16th-century artist disagreed. His name is lost to time. For a long time, the person’s decision to erase Jesus in favor of John also went undiscovered.

However, the unknown artist created a masterpiece. The painting showed John clasping his hands together in prayer on the day of his beheading. Time did not treat the work well. In 2019, Northumbria University scanned the damaged canvas to start the restoration process.^[3]

When the X-ray was examined, the original painting emerged. It was a nativity scene. Nestled in a manger, Jesus was surrounded by an angel, a wise man, and possibly a shepherd. A stable-like building stood in the background.

The discovery added more questions to the painting’s murky past. The year that the nativity scene was painted and by whom remains unclear. Why it was covered up with John the Baptist is another head-scratcher that will probably never be answered.

7 A Black Jesus Was Shot

In 2019, a painting was being prepared for an exhibition in Sheffield. At one point, artist Lorna May Wadsworth saw a bullet hole in the canvas. The painting was based on The Last Supper, and real models were used by the artist to depict Jesus and his followers. For Jesus, Wadsworth used the Jamaican-born Tafari Hinds.

Experts identified the weapon as an air rifle. As the shot had been aimed at the image of Hinds, Wadsworth was asked if she thought the act was racially motivated. She replied that it was “too horrible to contemplate.”^[4]

Indeed, the whole thing upset her so badly that she almost pulled the painting from the exhibition. Only the realization that the vandal probably rooted for such a move stopped her.

Ironically, the bullet passed through Jesus’s right side where he had received the famous spear wound.

6 The Buttocks Time Capsule

In 2017, a wooden statue arrived in Madrid to be restored. The life-size Jesus had been carved during the 18th century. Back in the day, the larger pieces of religious art were hollow. This made them easier to move and less prone to cracking. However, this Jesus had cracked around the buttocks. During the restoration, a team member was surprised to find that the statue’s bum was a time capsule.

Somebody had stuffed two scrolls inside. In a careful hand, the writer named himself as Joaquin Minguez. He was the prior of the church where the statue had been kept in 1777. Minguez talked about everyday stuff. People had short fevers. They hunted and grew crops. Earthquakes shook the land. Curiously, Minguez also mentioned that the monks loved ball games and playing cards.^[5]

Most likely, Minguez created the scrolls for future generations. This way, they could glimpse the past and see his world. To honor the prior’s intentions, the team replaced the scrolls inside the statue. They also inserted their own letter that describes modern times.

5 The Last Supper Mistake

The Last Supper is one of the world’s most famous paintings. But despite being the center of movies, books, and countless studies, one mystery remains. What menu did Leonardo da Vinci have in mind when he painted his masterpiece? In 2016, a study revealed the likeliest menu.

Archaeologists dug deep into the Palestine cuisine of the time. They took into account that the dinner was informal and that Jesus adhered to Jewish customs. For good measure, the study drew on the Bible, Jewish scripts, historical records, and the eating habits of the first century AD.

As it turned out, da Vinci did not know what he was doing. He was a superb artist but was too caught up in painting the Eucharistic ritual to put the right food on the table.

Indeed, the table seems empty for 13 people about to chow down. The only plates contain insubstantial amounts of food. The real dinner would have included wine on the table. Unleavened bread, lamb, and a bean stew would have provided enough substance while olives, fish sauce, and dates would have added variety.^[6]

4 Nativity Family In Captivity

During the festive season in 2019, many dusted off their nativity figures and arranged them in the traditional way. The Claremont United Methodist Church did something different. Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were separated into individual cages.

Nothing about the display pointed a finger directly at US President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, but the message was clear. The Holy Family had also been immigrants. Had they crossed the US-Mexico border today, they might have been taken to different detention centers.^[7]

The decision to use the nativity scene as a silent protest was inspired by immigrant children. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, over 5,000 children had been separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border from mid-2017 to late 2019.

The community, both online and local, had mixed reactions. Some were insulted or angry. But a lot of people appreciated the point that the church was trying to make. No matter what, families should not be forced apart.

3 Mystery Of The Sphere

Leonardo da Vinci painted Salvator Mundi around AD 1500. The portrait showed Jesus holding a glass orb in his hand. For decades, experts were confused. The sphere lacked certain things. For one, the glass did not distort anything. The robes directly behind the ball looked the same as the rest of Christ’s clothing. In addition, the curved surface did not reflect light as might be expected.

Da Vinci was no fool. Taking liberties with the Last Supper’s menu can be excused. Perhaps the food was symbolic, or he lacked the resources to do research. But an orb was not something that he would have bumbled. There was a reason why this object did not distort or reflect anything.

Scholars debated their options. Some said that the master had deliberately painted the orb wrong. Other theories involved a hollow object or rock crystal. In 2020, the University of California found the answer. A 3-D computer rendering of the orb revealed that the hollow sphere was a match.^[8]

Far from making a blooper, the results once again proved that da Vinci was a talented scientist who perfectly understood optical properties in this case.

2 Da Vinci Struggled With A Masterpiece

Given Leonardo da Vinci’s reputation, it is hard to imagine that he wrestled with his paintings. In 2019, a scan proved that even legendary masters have their bad days. The painting involved was the world-famous The Virgin of the Rocks. The artwork shows Mary and baby Jesus being adored by an angel and John the Baptist.

True to da Vinci, the painting is a masterpiece. But when a London gallery scanned the surface with X-rays, a very different scene emerged. The garbled figures showed da Vinci’s indecision. He had changed their positions twice before he was satisfied. Had he chosen one of these, today’s Virgin would be very different.

In the earliest version, Christ and the angel were placed higher. The angel also holds Him in a much tighter embrace. Then da Vinci changed everything. This second attempt was close to the final painting, but there were significant differences. The angel had more hair, and Jesus looked at a different spot in the painting.^[9]

1 Jesus Might Have Been Sexually Abused

Sexual abuse has many faces. Some argue that forcibly stripping somebody naked also counts, even when nothing else happens. When researchers looked at crucifixion art, most showed that Jesus was humiliated in this way. The artists did not follow a baseless notion. The Romans really did turn prisoners out naked before executing them.

The researchers needed this connection between stripping and abuse to deal with a crisis. In the past, Catholic leaders had exhibited a lackluster response to survivors of sexual violence—especially when priests were the offenders. The struggle is ongoing. But if Jesus can be recognized as a victim, it could change the way that the Church deals with assaults.

During the 2019 study, male survivors were interviewed. Those who have never experienced this kind of trauma might easily dismiss the idea of stripping as sexual violence. After all, it’s not rape or even fondling.^[10]

In fact, when the victims were asked if forced nudity could be considered as abuse and Jesus as a victim, most were surprised at first. However, they eventually agreed and said that recognizing Jesus’s plight would give the Church more solidarity with survivors.

They buzz, hop, and make noises in the night. It is hard to miss the presence of insects. But for most, these creatures cannot compete with things like good food, disease, and global conflict.

Surprisingly, insects play a part in all of those. Scientists are making bug-stuffed cuisine and have found that insects could save us all from super microbes. Most creepy of all, the military has claimed its own insect army for national security.

10 Bugpocalypse

In recent times, media outlets claimed that insects will be extinct within the century. Scientists do not believe such a “bugpocalypse” is possible. When a species is lost, others usually take over its ecological niche.

However, experts agree that insects are being lost at an alarming rate. Worse, the exact causes are unknown. The usual suspects are insecticides, agricultural expansion, and climate change.

Not only are the danger factors complex, but nobody is sure how many insect species there are. An estimated 80 percent have not yet been recorded by taxonomists. There are likely millions.

Although the “bugpocalypse” is not a consideration, researchers have not played down the seriousness of the species being lost. In the next few decades, up to 40 percent of insect species could disappear.^[1]

Nearly every food chain begins with an herbivorous insect, which in turn is eaten by a bigger insect, which is then consumed by birds and small mammals that make the lunch of larger predators. The loss of so many insects would be catastrophic to other species and agriculture.

9 Pseudo-Penises

In 2014, scientists discovered gender benders in Brazil. The females of the genus Neotrogla, a type of insect known as book lice, laid eggs like bug mothers tend to do. However, they also had phallus-type organs. Not just for show, either. During mating, the females used the hooked appendage to keep males from escaping. Ironically, the males had a female-looking pocket for genitalia.

Although other species have females with penis-like structures, none are used for penetration. This makes Neotrogla exceptional. Even more amazing, a related insect genus called Afrotrogla swings the same way.

Although they share a unique trait, there are differences. Afrotrogla lives in southern Africa, not Brazil, and their functional penises look nothing like those of Neotrogla.^[2]

The reason might never be known, but there is a strong clue why they broke the gender mold of nearly all other species. Both live in caves, where nutrients are scarce.

Males risk starvation should they sire babies everywhere as sperm replenishment takes nutrients. However, researchers believe that females do not appreciate this stinginess to share and developed in this manner to actively hunt for sperm packages.

8 Flies For Fido

In 2019, pet food made from flies hit the shelves in the United Kingdom. This was the first time insects featured as chow for dogs and cats in the country. The company responsible, Yora, used the larvae of black soldier flies. The insects were specially farmed by a Dutch protein nutrient company called Protix.

Made with several recipes, the fly food is reportedly tasty and nutritious. The insects account for 40 percent of the protein, which is higher than other bug-based pet food that had already appeared in the United States and Germany.

Other ingredients include potatoes, oats, and what the company calls “natural botanicals.” Yora also claimed that should the kibble really take off, it could help reduce the 20 percent of human-grade meat that pet owners feed their animals. The current manufacturing process of pet food also causes about a quarter of all meat production damage to the environment, something that insect farming does not.^[3]

7 The Smallest Genome

Antarctica’s biggest terrestrial animal is . . . a midge. There are bigger creatures, but they are technically water species. Measuring 0.6 centimeters (0.23 in), the Antarctic midge lives around two years frozen in ice before emerging as a wingless adult that dies within a week.

In the past, the insect’s ability to survive extreme conditions made it a favorite bug to study. After all, its larvae live through deadly dehydration, high ultraviolet exposure, and being frozen solid.

To find out more, a 2014 analysis dug around the insect’s genes. The biggest shock was how tiny the midge’s genome was. A human has 3.2 billion base pairs of nucleotides (the building blocks of DNA). Antarctica’s only true insect has a mere 99 million base pairs. This officially made it the insect world’s smallest genome.^[4]

Mysteriously, all its so-called junk DNA was gone. Once thought to be worthless, junk DNA is crucial in regulating genes. Without it, the midge managed to strip its genome down to a level so basic that nobody had thought it was possible.

6 Bug Bread

Certain bugs are very nutritious but a bit outdated for the modern menu. However, as the global population grows and farming land becomes an issue, the answer could be insect farms that require less space. The problem is selling the idea of eating insects to people who have no desire to buy grasshopper pie.

In 2018, Italian scientists came up with a solution—hide the insects so well that the food appears “normal.” Thus, they baked bread with powdered crickets. While it left no obvious trace of the goobers, there were some drawbacks.

Although highly nutritious, the taste was described as “cat food.” Apart from the flavor fail, the more cricket powder it contained, the less the bread rose. It also lost its chewiness.^[5]

The worst danger was bacterial spores. Scientists are working on eliminating spores that might piggyback on insect powders, like sterilizing them with gamma irradiation. But it might be a tougher challenge to make the bug bread taste or even look appetizing enough for shoppers to be fine with sending their kids to school with insect sandwiches.

5 Bee Cards

A few years ago, Dan Harris from Norwich learned something interesting about bees. Upon discovering that the insects had a fast metabolism responsible for quick fatigue, he recalled how often he and others had encountered exhausted bees on sidewalks. Seeing that such individuals are actually starving, Harris hit upon a novel idea. He was going to make snack packs for hungry bees.

Drawing on the wisdom of his beekeeper uncle and scientist father, Harris spent years developing a card. It had three slots filled with a beekeepers’ sugar formula. The first time Harris tried one of his “Bee Savior” cards on a stricken bee, it worked.

He peeled back the foil covering the slots and placed the card next to the creature. The insect homed in on the formula and fed. When designer Richard Horne’s kids successfully revived a bee with a prototype, he was so impressed that he donated his skills to streamline the card’s design.^[6]

Harris started a nonprofit organization and used crowdfunding to mass-produce the cards, which can fit into anyone’s wallet.

4 Clue To Opalization

In 2018, gem expert Brian Berger trawled the markets of Southeast Asia which are famous for selling fossil-containing amber. Berger found an unusual piece in Indonesia. Mind-blowingly, it held an unknown insect not preserved in amber but in opal, a precious stone.

Opal formation is still not fully understood. Finding a well-preserved insect inside one upended the few theories that supported opalization. Shortly put, this should not have been possible. As far as researchers know, opalization requires a cavity for silica-containing fluid to pour into.

Amber, which traps insects to look exactly like the one found in 2018, is fossilized tree sap. It could suggest that the true way that opals form is similar to amberization.

There is a chance that something unique happened instead—an insect inside amber became opalized. If true, this insect could be among the most ancient ever found as amber takes millions of years to form.^[7]

3 Antibiotic Heroes

Humanity faces a stark problem. There are superbugs that already laugh at our best antibiotics, and this costs thousands of lives every year. Antibiotic resistance recently got charged by an unusual cavalry—microorganisms that live on insects.

Traditionally, soil bacteria were used for antibiotics, but the new line hails specifically from a battlefield most people will never see. Every insect is like a planet for microbes that fight each other nonstop. The poisons they use on each other are basically antibiotics and natural ones to boot.

Tests showed that some of these substances are much stronger against antibiotic-resistant pathogens than anything derived from the soil. The good news is that the exceptional diversity of insects and, by extension, their microbes could offer a vast and long-lasting source of fresh antibiotics.^[8]

The bad news is that it takes years to develop a drug once a promising compound has been found.

2 They Have Interlocking Gears

In 2013, a British scientist was visiting a colleague in Germany when he found an insect in his host’s garden. It was a known species called Issus coleoptratus. In 1957, a feature was found on its hind legs that resembled interlocking gears inside a wristwatch. The discovery ended there.

When a new study looked at the critters from the German garden, it found that the gears were functional. This made the planthopper the first living thing using a design previously found only in the mechanical world.

It took high-speed video to see it in action. As the insect prepares to jump, it meshes the teeth of one leg’s gears with the other. Release happens smoothly, and the creature rockets forward.^[9]

Only the juveniles display the curved strips of up to 12 cogs. Since the youngsters molt several times, they can replace broken teeth. Adults no longer molt, and damaged cogs would jeopardize the insect for life. Instead, the gearless grownups use leg friction to help them jump.

1 Project Insect Allies

The Pentagon’s research wing is called DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). Their ideas can get weird sometimes, but in 2018, one project made the scientific community edgy.

The Pentagon views food security as national security. That makes sense. A hungry nation tends to fall apart. However, the latest idea sounded creepy from the start. It proposed using insects to infect crops with viruses. Called “Insect Allies,” the technology aims to deliver what DARPA calls “targeted therapies” to fields during times of trouble.

For example, if drought plagued a region, insects would infect the plants with a genetically modified virus to slow down growth and prevent the loss of crops. Other threats the project aims to circumnavigate include floods, extreme weather, and sabotage.^[10]

Some scientists are not convinced that the project is wholesome. Using diseased insects is a classic bioweapon, and why use them when sprinklers do the same job? Other researchers are not concerned that something shady might be afoot. At least four colleges in the United States accepted funding from DARPA to develop the insect army.

In April 2019, a mountain expedition by the Indian Army discovered huge footprints in the snow high in the Himalayas. They tweeted out pictures, claiming the images as evidence for the legendary Yeti, a large, hairy biped believed to exist in the mountain range. Not surprisingly, most people were unimpressed.^[1]

Apparent Yeti prints have been seen many times before, and there have been many explanations put forward to explain them away. If there actually are Yetis in the Himalayas, wouldn’t someone have seen them by now? Well, about that . . .

10 Where’s A Camera When You Need One?

In 1925, a photographer, N.A. Tombazi, was touring the Himalayas taking scenic photographs. One day, his porters called him to come from his tent, and they pointed to a dark object 183 to 274 meters (600–900 ft) away.

Tombazi could see the figure was like a human being and walking upright; it was also was dark in color and appeared to be wearing no clothes. This strange being was walking around from rhododendron bush to rhododendron bush, rummaging through them and occasionally uprooting one. After the figure was visible for about a minute, Tombazi lost view of it as it walked off into some thick scrub. Tombazi was flustered; he’d had no time to get a camera or binoculars.

Tombazi and some of the men trekked over to the area a few hours later to investigate and found plenty of footprints in the crisp snow. They were definitely man-like, but oddly small—they were only about 15 to 18 centimeters (6–7 in) long and about 10 centimeters (4 in) wide at the widest part. There were five toes, and the instep could be seen, but the heel was often indistinct or merely a point. The prints were between 45 and 60 centimeters (18–24 in) apart and were obviously from a bipedal creature. The scrub was too thick and the weather too threatening for Tombazi to try to follow the trail.

The porters all believed the creature had been a Yeti, but Tombazi didn’t want to believe that. However, he could not get past the fact the creature had looked very human in form.^[2]

9 Hometown Expert

Tenzing Norgay was born and raised in the shadow of the Himalayas. He first became involved in mountaineering when he was picked by Englishman Eric Shipton to help in the 1935 reconnaissance of Mount Everest (an attempt to find usable path for climbing). Tenzing enjoyed the experience so much that he became involved with almost every other attempt to climb Everest afterward. On May 29, 1953, he reached the top of Everest with Edmund Hillary, making Tenzing and Hillary the first two people to do so.

In 1951, Tenzing was on a climb with Eric Shipton again when the whole party came across prints in the snow. Tenzing identified them as belonging to a Yeti, and then he explained to Shipton that he and some of the other Sherpas had seen a Yeti two years previously, near the village of Thyangboche. It was about 23 meters (75 ft) away when the group saw the strange creature. Tenzing said it stood about 168 centimeters tall (5’6″) and had a tall and pointed head. Its body was covered with reddish-brown hair, but the face looked hairless.

Shipton had another man cross-examine Tenzing in his native language, and Tenzing stood by his statement. He knew what a bear looked like, and he knew what a monkey looked like; this manlike creature had been neither.^[3]

8 The Lure Of The Hunt

Around 12:00 AM one night in May 1951, Richard Steinwinkler reached a remote, high plateau in the Himalayas. He was climbing alone and had been planning to rest when he reached the plateau, but he saw from the corner of his eye a large figure moving behind an overhang. He immediately thought Yeti. He wasn’t a believer per se, but he knew that no one else should have been up there, especially at that time of night, so he immediately ran to the overhang to investigate.

Initially, there was nothing in sight. Then Steinwinkler noticed the footprint in the clay in front of him. He photographed the print and then followed the trail for hours, eventually finding the creature that made the print. The animal was about 50 meters (164 ft) away from him, and he could see it was moving on two legs and was very tall . . . but it was hard to get a good look because of the terrain. Steinwinkler, who had been running on excitement at a discovery up to this point, suddenly realized he was very, very alone with an unknown animal. Shakily, Steinwinkler took several photos. Then, ever so carefully, he crept back the way he came.^[4]

7 Ouch!

In 1952, Norwegians Aage Thorberg and Jan Frostis were doing survey work on the Zemu Glacier in the area of Kangchenjunga when they came across a fresh example of some of the famous footprints in the snow. Thorberg and Frostis, with two local men, went in search of the creatures that had made the tracks . . . and they found them.

The creatures looked like monkeys, with long tails, but were man-sized and walking upright. Frostis proposed shooting one to take with them, but Thorberg argued that the specimen would be more valuable alive. So they improvised a lasso to catch one with.

When the attempt was made, however, one of the creatures caught the lasso before it caught a creature, and another of the animals knocked Frostis to the ground and bit his shoulder. Thorberg hastily fired a shot into the air, and the creatures all fled as the men helped their wounded companion back to camp.^[5]

6 A Bad Position

In 1953, Drs. George Moore and George K. Brooks were returning home after a visit to the Tibetan border area, where they had helped to control an outbreak of typhus. They were slowly following the trails back down the mountains to Kathmandu with a group of Sherpas when a storm threatened to overtake them. They had entered a muddy, forested area, and Moore and Brooks, unencumbered by packs and in a hurry to get home, had outpaced the Sherpas. A thick fog had set in, but the men could still follow the trail.

The two men stopped for a break near a large rock so that Brooks could grab a leech that was about to climb into his boot. Something moved ever so slightly in the bushes nearby; then it moved again. Both men quickly drew their pistols and backed up to a large boulder as they watched the bush. Then came two screams, one from somewhere in front of them and one from somewhere to the right!

Fearing they might be surrounded, the men climbed onto the boulder as an angry chattering came from the bushes in front of them, and more screams came from all around them. And then a creature, covered in hair but standing, pushed through the bushes in front of them. The creature stood about 152 centimeters tall (5′) and had gray skin, black hair, a mouth “that seemed to extend from ear to ear,” and long, yellow teeth and yellow eyes. As six or seven more figures started to be visible in the fog around them, the men realized they were surrounded by these monsters.

Moore and Brooks decided that actually shooting one of the beasts would likely just make their situation worse, so they fired a warning shot over the creatures’ heads, which made the strange animals pause in their steps. Two more warning shots, and the creatures retreated. No longer in a hurry to get home, the two men stood their ground until the Sherpas caught up to them and stayed in the group for the rest of the way home.^[6]

5 A Picky Eater

In 1954, mountaineer Charles Stoner was performing interviews concerning the Yeti and other matters in several of the Himalayan villages he was visiting. Stoner was interested in the folklore and the beliefs regarding the creature but ran into a story that he wasn’t quite prepared for.

In the village of Tamyeh, Stoner found himself talking to a man named Lakhpa Tensing, who explained that, three years earlier, he had a chance encounter with a Yeti. It was in the month of March, and Lahkpa had taken his yak herd out to graze where the snow had melted. When it was time to go, one yak had wandered off, so Lahkpa climbed to a rocky area nearby to look for the stray animal. He heard a strange yelping noise that sounded like a puppy, so he went to investigate . . . and found the guts of a local rodent strewn on the ground, still fresh.

Thirty paces away, sitting on a rock with its back to him, was an upright creature about the size of a 12-year-old boy. It was covered with reddish-brown hair and had a noticeably pointed head. Once Lahkpa realized that he was looking at a Yeti, he crept back away as carefully as possible, not wanting to disturb the creature in any way.^[7]

4 Word From Russia

In January 1958, Dr. Alexander Pronin, a hydrologist from Russia’s Leningrad State University (now the Saint Petersburg State University), was with a group in the Pamir Mountains. One day, he was exploring a bit when he saw what he took to be a bear on a cliff top, but when it stood up, it was clearly not a bear.

The man-like figure was covered with reddish-gray hair and had stooping shoulders. He watched it for five minutes as the strange creature moved about the cliff top doing something, before it finally turned and left his field of view.

Three days later, he saw the same figure in the same place . . . and decided that it was time to admit that what he saw was real.^[8]

3 Another Picky Eater

In 1958, an expedition was sent to the Himalayas specifically to look for evidence of the Yeti. Naturalist Gerald Russell, who had been on an earlier 1954 expedition, was acting as the deputy leader for this outing.

Toward the end of April, Russell and his Sherpa guide and interpreter, Da Temba, were in the area of Choyang Khola and were taking turns with other party members spending the night in a camouflaged observation post, keeping an eye out for unusual activity. A local man told them that he’d seen a small Yeti which would visit a nearby creek nightly looking for frogs to eat, so they investigated. Russell didn’t see it, but Da Temba was in the right place at the right time.

Around midnight, a Yeti about 137 centimeters tall (4’6″) approached the creek where Da Temba was watching. It was assumed that the animal was a young Yeti, as it was physically shorter compared to most reports. As the creature searched for frogs, Da Temba shined a flashlight into the Yeti’s face. It responded by running at the men, who bravely fled. In the morning, Russell investigated and found not only Da Temba and the local man’s prints but those of a small biped, which resembled the appearance of Yeti prints seen in other areas of the Himalayas.^[9]

2 Patience Prevails

In 1970 Don Whillans was part of a group of mountaineers who set up camp near Machapuchare. One night, one of the Sherpas with the group, looking past Whillans, said matter-of-factly, “Yeti coming.” Whillans turned around just in time to see a shadowy figure disappear behind a ridge. Checking the next day, Whillans and another of the mountaineers discovered strange tracks by the ridge near where Whillans had seen the figure the night previously. The other mountaineer dismissed them as bear tracks. Whillans wasn’t so sure.

That night, the moon was bright enough to read by. Whillans’ tent was positioned so that he could poke his head out and see the slope and ridge where the figure had been the previous night. Despite the bitter cold, Whillans kept peeking out from time to time to see if any animals were in the area. His patience paid off later in the evening when, fairly suddenly, a figure sprang out from the shadows on the hillside and quickly bounded along on all fours straight for the cliff face. The creature was big and powerful-looking, and Whillans felt it was either an ape or a very similar animal. He watched for a while, but nothing more happened that night.

The next morning, Whillans and two Sherpas went to investigate and found tracks in the snow corresponding to what he’d seen the night before . . . but both Sherpas pretended there were no tracks at all! Perhaps they were afraid that Whillans would go looking for the source, unaware that he’d already seen it.^[10]

1 Surprise On The Slope

In March 1986, Anthony Wooldridge was doing a run/climb through the Alaknanda Valley in the Himalayas for charity purposes. Wooldridge was reasonably unfamiliar with Yeti lore at the time, so when he reached a remote wooded area where other humans shouldn’t have been since the previous summer, he was very surprised to see a distinct trail that traveled through the snow from bush to bush. He took two pictures and then set off on his run again, hoping to find a way through the snow to Hemkund by the next day, which was going to be tough.

About an hour later, Wooldridge’s path crossed a steep slope, and there had been an avalanche ahead of his arrival, so he stopped to survey the area, looking for the safest way to cross. As he was looking, he noticed an unnatural groove in the snow slope, as if a large rock had slid down for a short distance, and there were more footprints leading away from the bottom of the groove. He followed the tracks with his eyes to a spindly shrub . . . and whipped out his camera to quickly take several shots before moving to a spot that was as close as he could safely get to look more.

There was something just beyond the shrub, something about 183 centimeters tall (6′) and standing up. Its legs were apart, and the creature was apparently looking down the slope, unaware of Wooldridge, who was looking at the animal from its right. It was covered in dark hair, and its head was large and squarish. Wooldridge moved down the slope a little to get a different angle. When he looked again, he had the distinct impression that the creature was now watching him as well. As the weather deteriorated, Wooldridge realized that he wasn’t going to reach Hemkund that day, and suddenly unwilling to just camp out, he headed back to the last village he had stopped at before night fell.^[11]

+ Don’t Forget The Prints

On April 29, 2019, the Indian Army sent out the following tweet, along with three photos of strange prints in the snows of Makalu in the Himalayas:

For the first time, an #IndianArmy Moutaineering Expedition Team has sited Mysterious Footprints of mythical beast ‘Yeti’ measuring 32×15 inches close to Makalu Base Camp on 09 April 2019. This elusive snowman has only been sighted at Makalu-Barun National Park in the past.^[12]

As mentioned at the beginning, almost everyone immediately mocked the tweet, but stop and consider for a moment. In the pictures, the large prints are separated by a distance equal to about one and a half prints in length. So if, as the Indian Army reported, the individual prints are 81 centimeters (32 in) long each, that would imply the visible distance between the prints is around 122 centimeters (48 in) apart— that’s a lot of undisturbed snow between each print! No one in skis or snowshoes could pull that off, and that would be difficult even for the largest bears in the region.

So what did actually make the prints?

Garth Haslam has been digging into strange topics for over 30 years and posts his research on varying anomalies, curiosities, mysteries, and legends at his website Anomalies—the Strange & Unexplained. Check it out at http://anomalyinfo.com or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/anomalies.news.